The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has dismissed claims that the insurance capitation it is operating in the Ashanti Region is fuelling infant and maternal deaths in the Region.

Mr. Bawa Nurideen, the Regional Manager of the Authority said that could not be true because ante and post-natal visits as well as deliveries did not come under the capitation.

“Such services are absolutely free for clients,” he said, and added that he found it difficult to understand why anybody could remotely connect the insurance capitation to these deaths.

Maternal death ratio in Ashanti currently stands at 315 per 100,000 live births, compared with the 185 per 100,000 live births it had targeted to achieve under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr. Nurideen said any health facility that charged clients for infant and maternal health services on the basis of insurance capitation would be appropriately sanctioned.

He urged the people to be bold and report such offending facilities.

Mr Nurideen defended the introduction of the capitation and said it had brought relief to the health providers – medical bills paid ahead of service delivery.

He said a new “Claims Processing Centre” (CPC) to oversee the prompt processing of insurance claims had been set up.